Insurance briefing is a round-up of legal and business developments published on Out-Law.com.
Welcome to the Insurance Briefing of 2018 - our fortnightly round-up of insurance legal and business developments with analysis and commentary from the insurance team at Pinsent Masons.
It has been a busy fortnight and the main topics we're focusing on this week include:
New accountability rules in force for insurers from 10 December 2018
The Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SMCR) will take effect for insurers on 10 December 2018. The rules will be extended to cover all regulated financial firms in 2019, the UK Treasury has confirmed. Read more...
UK elects to 'delay' new insurance distribution rules amidst uncertainty at EU level
EU laws on the distribution of insurance products will not be applied in the UK until there is more clarity on the final deadline for their implementation, the UK government has said.
The Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD) requires each EU member state to implement its rules into national law by 23 February 2018, but the European Commission has put forward a proposal to extend the deadline for the application of the new rules to 1 October this year. Read more...
UN urged to back African climate risk insurance aid for investments
The head of the African Development Bank (AfDB) has called on the United Nations to back plans to help African countries pay for insurance against "catastrophic events" that can hamper investments in major infrastructure projects.
Bank president Akinwumi Adesina said the AfDB plans to provide $76 million in 2018 for the payment of insurance premiums, with participating countries providing $31.5m and the African Risk Capacity Agency providing $16m. Read more...
A fine served on an online broker shows that financial firms should not rely solely on group-wide controls and surveillance systems to pick up on suspicious transactions, an expert has said
Late last week, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced that it had fined London-based Interactive Brokers (UK) Limited (IBUK) £1,049,412 for "poor market abuse controls and failure to report suspicious client transactions". Read more...
House of Lords EU committee urges EU and UK to agree on 'mutual market access' in financial services
EU and UK officials negotiating the terms of trade between the jurisdictions post-Brexit should agree on a deal which will provide financial services firms with "mutual market access", a UK parliamentary committee has said.
In a detailed report, the House of Lords European Union Committee outlined the potential consequences for businesses and the economy as a whole if no agreement is reached on the terms of future trade. Read more...
EU regulators provide guidance for digital 'on-boarding' by financial firms
Financial firms should consider requiring customers to provide proof of identity from documentation containing "high security features or biometric data", such as passports, to ensure that digital-only 'on boarding' processes comply with anti-money laundering rules, EU regulators have said.
In a new joint opinion (19-page / 225KB PDF) they have issued, the European Banking Authority (EBA), the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA), and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) set out the type of issues financial regulators should consider when assessing whether firms' use of "innovative solutions" for customer due diligence (CDD) processes adequately address risks of money laundering and terrorist financing. Read more...
EU countries told to 'speed up' preparations for the GDPR
Governments across the EU have been told to "speed up" their adoption of new data protection laws to supplement the forthcoming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
The GDPR will apply directly in law across the EU, and to any non-EU businesses processing the personal data of EU consumers where they are directing services at that market, from 25 May 2018. However, aspects of the Regulation need to be supplemented with new national data protection legislation. Read more...
UK finalises plans to implement new cybersecurity laws
Organisations that breach new UK cybersecurity laws could be fined more than once by different regulators in relation to the same security breach, the UK government has admitted. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) made the admission in a paper setting out its plans to implement the EU's Network and Information Security (NIS) Directive into UK law (35-page / 286KB PDF).
The NIS Directive sets out measures designed to ensure critical IT systems in central sectors of the economy like energy, health and transport are secure. It applies to operators of such 'essential services', as defined by each EU member state. Slightly different rules also apply to 'digital service providers'. EU countries have until 9 May 2018 to implement the Directive into national laws. Read more...
EU agrees Brexit transition period negotiating guidelines
The UK would be expected to apply EU law "as if it were a member state" during any post-Brexit transition period, EU leaders have said.
The position is contained in negotiating directives (8-page / 154KB PDF) agreed by the remaining 27 member states, sitting as the EU General Affairs Council, which give the European Commission authority to begin discussions with the UK on a transition period following its planned exit from the EU in March 2019. This transition period should come to an end on 31 December 2020, according to the text; which makes it shorter than the two-year transition period preferred by the UK. Read more...
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